Obama in personal phone call to Sandra Fluke: Your parents should be proud

posted at 3:40 pm on March 2, 2012 by Tina Korbe

The president clearly thinks it’s advantageous to keep conservatives preoccupied with his contraception mandate because he sure ensures the topic stays in the spotlight. Today, he did that with a rare personal phone call to Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown law student who earlier this week testified in support of the mandate by saying that she and her peers are “going broke” to buy birth control.

In response to Fluke’s congressional testimony, radio host Rush Limbaugh called the Georgetown coed a “slut” and a “prostitute.” With those comments, he touched off a larger controversy. The DCCC and Emily’s List raised funds off Rush’s comments, while Congressional Democrats immediately demanded that Republican leadership disavow his words. House Speaker John Boehner did so tepidly, calmly calling Limbaugh’s remarks “inappropriate,” while also condemning any attempt to use his provocative rhetoric as a fundraising tool.

Today, Obama decided to weigh in, as well, calling Fluke to praise and encourage her and to say her parents should be proud of her activism.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said, “The president called Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke because he wanted to offer his support, express his disappointment, that she was the subject of an inappropriate personal attack and thank her for exercising her rights as a citizen to speak out on public policy.”

Carney said they spoke “for several minutes. It was a good conversation. Like a lot of people said the personal attacks directed her way are inappropriate. The fact that political discourse has become debased in many ways is bad enough. It’s worse when directed at a private citizen simply expressing her views on a matter of public policy.”

Asked what Obama thought about Limbaugh’s comments, Carney said, “They were reprehensible. They were disappointing. It is reprehensible that those kinds of personal and crude attacks could be leveled at someone like this young law school student who was simply expressing her opinion on a matter of public policy and doing it with a great deal of poise.”

Fluke also relayed the substance of the call to MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell. (Incidentally, Fluke might not be the wide-eyed, 23-year-old she purports to be; sounds like she had the intention to raise this issue before she ever enrolled at Georgetown.)

(Also, note that, according to the lower third in the video, conservative backlash to the contraception mandate amounts to a “War on Women’s Health.” How far we’ve come from the first days after the mandate, when conservatives more successfully framed the issue as Obama’s “War on Religious Freedom.”)

Amid his reaction though, Rush makes a great point. He says that he has been asked why he was so insulting to Fluke. He responded by making the point that his whole “free contraception” movement, on top of the “rich aren’t paying their fair share” movement is highly insulting to him. He likened it to a woman he didn’t know knocking on his door asking for money for contraception because she wanted to go and have sex with 3 guys that evening. Rush explains:

“Where is it written that when all of a sudden if you want something and don’t have the money for it, somebody else has to pay for it. I think the whole notion of being insulted here – there are a lot of us insulted by this whole idea that is growing throughout the Obama administration, that the people who make this country work are somehow doing their fair share, not paying their fair share, that we have to be punished even more. Here’s the latest example of it.”

Of course he ends the segment by suggesting, tongue-in-cheek, that he is waiting for Bill Clinton to call Sandra Fluke to see if she’s OK. Ha!

Dare I suggest that, somewhere along the line, this has gotten a bit — to borrow a word from Ron Paul — “silly“? Don’t misunderstand me: The contraception mandate is very, very serious. As conservatives have said from Day One, it represents an unconscionable assault on religious freedom. Similarly, sexual morality is a very serious issue. But this has become nothing more than a top-my-trauma contest, in which both sides attempt to make it sound as though they’ve been more seriously insulted than the other side.

Let’s not forget who started all of this. Nobody ever threatened to take away anybody’s contraception. Nobody (except George Stephanopoulous) was even talking about contraception until the administration reiterated its mandate to religiously-affiliated employers to provide insurance coverage that covers contraception against their religious beliefs.

The president knew what he was doing when he made the contraception mandate the first detail of Obamacare to be truly “felt.” He was willing to risk that it would rouse religious leaders because he knew it would rouse those who would perceive opposition to the mandate as a threat to consequence-free sex. It’s not — with or without the mandate, any two consenting adults are free to have sex and with contraception as much as they can afford — but don’t tell Sandra Fluke that. To her and to others like her, sex is apparently not consequence-free unless it’s also flat-out “free” for the folks having it.

The best bet for conservatives is to try — somehow — to rise above this fray and to espouse a higher, better way. That necessarily entails advocating conscience protections for religious employers and patiently, repeatedly explaining that contraception is widely accessible and affordable, but not a medical necessity. It might also entail (and I duck as I write this) the willingness to love women (and men!) by inviting them to lives as something other than moochers who can’t see past their own desires for instant gratification. “Hey, kids, try a life of personal responsibility and earned success! You might like it!”

Gallup finds U.S. unemployment, as measured without seasonal adjustment, to be 9.1% in February, based on almost 30,000 interviews with a random sample of Americans. When Gallup applies the 0.5-percentage-point seasonal adjustment that the government applied to its unadjusted data for February last year, it produces an adjusted unemployment rate for February 2012 of 8.6% — a substantial increase from the 8.3% adjusted rate the government reported for January.

The best bet for conservatives is to try — somehow — to rise above this fray and to espouse a higher, better way. That necessarily entails advocating conscience protections for religious employers and patiently, repeatedly explaining that contraception is widely accessible and affordable, but not a medical necessity.

You don’t get it do you?

This isn’t about any particular part of the mandate but the mandate itself. The federal government has no right to requiring individuals, groups or businesses that they cover any insurance at all.

Fluke should be ashamed of herself and if she were my daughter I’d be extremely disappointed.

Don’t want children and can’t afford contraceptives? Don’t have sex. Quite simple and quite easy to do – or not do as the case is.

Ah, but to liberals, you are a lizard. Your lizard brain just cannot control its base desires. Thus, you must protect yourself from yourself – or even better allow the government to do it for you – while you give in to your carnal desires at the same time.

Wouldn’t want to be punished with a baby after all… but then, we can just kill that too, because, hey, it’s not a person unless it can express itself and be understood.

Next time i’m around georgetown, i’m going to look her up. Sounds like you don’t even have to buy her dinner first.

I wish I knew where the girls like her were in college. Silly me, I didn’t think college students, and certainly law students; had enough free time from studying to have more sex in a week than most Las Vegas hookers.

A $lut is a $lut.
Calling her a ‘nice’ girl is lying.
She’s a $lut who wants us all to pay for her to spread her legs for every Tom, D!ck, & Harry.
If her Mommy & Daddy are proud, they are depraved.
I’m not proud when anyone in my family acts like $luts.
And I call them on it.
The f#$%ing truth hurts.

This is so stupid. Somehow we went from the very serious issue of President Obama actively destroying part of the first amendment, to focussing laser like on whether or not some 30 year liar is or is not a slut.

If there’s one thing I do like about the left, it’s their ability to stay on topic and shape the narrative.

The best bet for conservatives is to try — somehow — to rise above this fray and to espouse a higher, better way.

Sorry, TK. But I think it’s time we call these people out for what they are. This Fluke girl(BTW, how fitting a name considering everything that’s come out about her) is either a $lut or a liar because I don’t see how anyone who’s not a sex-crazed maniac is spending 3 grand a year on the pill.

And as far as the bigger picture, the whole concept of personal responsibility is getting tossed aside and I’m frankly sick of it. It was her choice to go to a law school where the tuition is 23 grand a year. It was her choice to apparently have sex as often as she blinks. And it was her choice to go before Congress while misrepresenting her background and advocate for the rest of society to pick up the tab for her own lifestyle decisions.

Enough is enough. If Ms. Fluke can’t stand the heat, get off of my TV set and shut your hole(I’m referring to her mouth, BTW).

The answer is fairly simple. Give all college students $1,000 in sex stamps each year. Then the only students discriminated against are abstainers. Gays and Lesbians will be happy, and even abstainers can sell the sex stamps on the secondary market.

Let’s say the $3K bill she references is if you use something other than a condom, right? That means that either:

a) She is in a monogamous relationship with a man, and between the two of them they can’t scrape together enough money to buy this, or…
b) She is having unprotected sex with multiple partners – something that is CERTAIN to expose her to a much higher incidence of STDs…thus completely obliterating any cost benefit they seek by providing contraception.

Furthermore – I PROMISE you she spends more than 50¢ (the price of a condom) getting herself gussied up to go out trolling for homely frat boys to take her home. Thus – this really is a matter of prioritizing your spending, not affordability of contraception, right?

If we lived in a sane world – this woman would be ashamed to show herself in public.

The best bet for conservatives is to try — somehow — to rise above this fray and to espouse a higher, better way.

From your lips to Rush’s ears.

Fluke also relayed the substance of the call to MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell. (Incidentally, Fluke might not be the wide-eyed, 23-year-old she purports to be; sounds like she had the intention to raise this issue before she ever enrolled at Georgetown.)

This specific issue didn’t exist before Fluke enrolled in Law School. That she might have been a woman’s rights activist on some level is hardly a surprise. Random law school students don’t end up testifying before Congress.

Next time i’m around georgetown, i’m going to look her up. Sounds like you don’t even have to buy her dinner first.

I wish I knew where the girls like her were in college. Silly me, I didn’t think college students, and certainly law students; had enough free time from studying to have more sex in a week than most Las Vegas hookers.

cougar on March 2, 2012 at 3:46 PM

Her parents are proud their daughter is a whore and cries because other people won’t pay for her birth control?

reddevil on March 2, 2012 at 3:47 PM

There we go. If a woman has sex, and enjoys it, she must be a whore. That’s what I love about conservatives — the way they hate women.

A $lut is a $lut.
Calling her a ‘nice’ girl is lying.
She’s a $lut who wants us all to pay for her to spread her legs for every Tom, D!ck, & Harry.
If her Mommy & Daddy are proud, they are depraved.
I’m not proud when anyone in my family acts like $luts.
And I call them on it.
The f#$%ing truth hurts.

From lunatic-left d-cRAT socialist FANTASYLAND: “FREE contraception!!!”
Yep, in d-cRAT socialist FANTASYLAND there are NO COSTS to manufacture any contraception items, there are NO COSTS for packaging any contraception items, there are NO COSTS for distributing any contraception items, there are NO COSTS for visiting a doctor for any contraception prescription, there are NO COSTS for a pharmacist to dispense any contraception items…it’s all FREE, FREE, FREE in lunatic-left d-cRAT socialist FANTASYLAND – just like all that FREE crony capitalist taxpayer money, bailouts, pork and other socialist welfare boondoggles.

I’m still waiting on the taxpayers to bail out all my bad debts… I’m sure the libtards can think of a zillion other things they can waste taxpayer money on… like shredders to use on every copy of the U.S. Constitution.

It bugs me that Rush decided to blow this whole thing up the way he did. I understand his basic point. But he’s been talking this week about how the conservatives aren’t really at war with women. Then he starts insulting a woman?

He’s provided tons of ammo to the liberal argument that conservatives are misogynists.

If her parents are so proud of her, they should pay for her birth control as a reward…or something. I know if I were a father I’d want to know that my daughter was very sexually active and in favor of forcing others to pay for something she wants, instead of doing it herself…

This is ridiculous. The woman uses 4 year old logic and questionable math skills in front of Congress, yet she’s some sort of brave hero. Give me a break. She should be embarassed, not proud.

Rush ought to nuke her again. The more scrutiny and airtime she gets, the more obvious it will be that she’s a Dem operative and this whole business was based on supporting a deceitful power grab from the administration.

Shouldn’t the democrats denounce Bill Maher and shouldn’t Obama send back his 1 million dollar donation AND shouldn’t the President call Sarah Palin to see if she is okay after three years of being called every filthy name in the book, including the c-word?

And some of you buy into what these people say about social issues? It boggles the mind.

Overlooked in all this is that she’s a “public policy” law student (whatever that means) in a time of drastic restructuring in the legal industry — thanks to Obama’s economy. If she thinks she has problems now, wait until she’s trying to get her $3,000 in contraception a year while making $17,000 at some obscure nonprofit in DC.

If there’s one thing I do like about the left, it’s their ability to stay on topic and shape the narrative.

BadgerHawk on March 2, 2012 at 3:46 PM

By repeating lies often over & over.
And giving people free stuff.
And making them dependent.
That’s how they stay on topic & shape the narrative.
I really don’t want to play that game.
If the people don’t like the truth, I’m not going to try & buy their votes.
F#$% them. Let them perish in their own filth.
Of course, they’re dragging me down with them, but I’m not going to ever play the game dishonestly.
If cheating is why they win, then people are stupid & deserve everything they got coming to them.
That’s what free will does for humanity.
Unfortunately, those of us who try & do the right thing often get penalized for it.
Which is why it’s easier to be a Right wing squish or a lefty.

No, with respect, the better way for conservatives to respond is to point out that the entire Obamacare law is an unconstitutional government overreach. If we start advocating for “conscience protections” to be carved out of the law, then we’re essentially conceding the legitimacy of the law — and that we should adamantly refuse to do.

And I hate to agree with Boehner, but he’s right about Limbaugh. It was unnecessary and inappropriate to call the Georgetown woman names. The libs typically resort to nasty ad hominem attacks when they disagree with someone’s policies; we should not lower ourselves to their level by doing the same. Rush could, and should IMO, have pointed out the idiocy of the woman’s position without calling her a slut or a whore.

“It is reprehensible that those kinds of personal and crude attacks could be leveled at someone like this young law school student who was simply expressing her opinion on a matter of public policy and doing it with a great deal of poise.”

What the hell kind of MAN is involved with Sandra Fluke? Are all of these powerful and educated women on campus so willing to have sex with MEN who apparently can’t afford a condom or simply assume contraception is the woman’s responsibility and they shouldn’t have to think about it?

Seriously? You’ll testify in public at a congressional hearing that you need America to buy you birth control before you’ll simply insist that your partner MAN UP and provide his own contraception if he wants to have sex? This is female empowerment somehow?